Til My Down Goes Up
by booklover1989
Summary: Bethyl story based on the song 'Round Here Buzz by Eric Church


**A/N: Based on the song 'Round Here Buzz by Eric Church. I love this song and think it fits these two well. I encourage you to listen to it first. Also please don't forget to leave a comment and let me know what you think. **

It was Friday night in a small town in Georgia. It was active and lively as everyone got ready for the out of town high school football game. Excitement was in the air but it was slowly dwindling as more and more taillights disappeared down the road. Daryl Dixon hated every damn minute of it.

Friday nights used to be his favorite night of the week. While everyone was distracted with the football game he would sneak under the bleachers with _her_. When he let himself think about it he could still feel her lips on his. Still feel her hands in his hair and on his chest. He could remember- No! He wouldn't let himself do this. He didn't want to remember. Or maybe he wanted to remember just enough to keep torturing himself. Why else would he be in this parking lot across the stadium. Sitting on the hood of his truck and staring while he downed cheap beer after cheap beer.

But the more he drank the more he remembered. Remembered how her mama had been his homeroom teacher. How much Mrs. Greene saw when he didn't want her to see anything. How old Preacher Greene tried like hell to save his pathetic and damned soul. Only _that_ girl could have ever dragged his ass to church.

Daryl needed more. More alcohol. A bigger buzz that comes with a better high. High. She's probably in a high rise right now- No! Stop. He needed to be more lit. Lit like the only stoplight in town. The one right across from the welcome sign into this backwoods town. The one where your last name was either a blessing or a reason for people cross the street when you walk by. Where a dirty redneck should have never laid hands on the preacher's perfect daughter.

Daryl wonders where she's at. If she's in a Nashville penthouse by now. The big city. No place for him. Hell he ain't even been outta Georgia. He traveled around with his brother Merle for a while. But it was from shitty town to shitty town. Cheap motels and drugs and whatever else Merle got them into. But never into big cities and never outta state. He needed the woods like he needed air. The traffic and the noise and claustrophobia of the city were never for him. So when Merle got twenty years his only choice was to head back here. To his hometown that was never a real home. But it was all he knew.

Daryl stumbled down the sidewalk making his way to Scotty's- the rundown bar he goes to every Friday night. Shitty place filled with even shittier people. All locals. The signs long ran out of neon. But the two for one special is why Daryl frequents the place. The place he goes round to for a buzz. He snorts. A round here buzz. Because _she_ ain't round here none. So he'll drink twofer ones all night long until his down goes up.

It's his fault he knows. He made her go. Made her leave. Knew she caught that out there bug. The one that meant she supposed to be someplace better than this. With someone better than him. It's a day he won't forget.

_Daryl met her at the high school football game. There was nothing else to ever do on Friday nights except watch the football games. Even once you left school watching it was what you're supposed to do. So here was this 18 year old beautiful blonde girl wanting to talk to him. He knew he was too old for her at 32 but damn if she wasn't the most beautiful thing he ever saw. That was it though. One night and he was a goner._

_They created a huge scandal. A Dixon with the preacher's youngest daughter. A match made in hell they said. Daryl knew it didn't make sense. He was nearly double her age for fucks sake. Hell he was still waiting on her to see sense and leave his ass. But she stuck around._

_Now here they were almost a year later. A warm summer night spent in the bed of his truck with blankets piled high and a clear night to see the stars. One of her favorite things to do and nothing made him happier than making her happy. Which is why when she brought it up he had to do it. Even if it killed him._

_"I got a call today. Some big shot from Nashville." She said it in such a casual voice. As if it wasn't something. Wasn't a big deal._

_But it was. So much so that his throat closed up and his stomach sank. It was bound to happen. He had nothing to say that. But she was used to his silences._

_"Guess a video of my singin' at the cafe made its way to him and he thought I had 'it'." Her laugh was full of self deprecation and she used air quotes to emphasize it. "Wants me to come to Nashville," she said with a snort._

_How did she not know how amazing she was. Daryl could never understand that. Making and singing her own songs. Her voice was so beautiful._

_It came out of his mouth before he could stop it._

_"You should go."_

_She twisted towards him so fast with a shocked look on her face. Her eyes were wide with disbelief._

_"Why would you say that? I don't want to go. I want to be right here. With you."_

_She said it like it was obvious. That staying here for him was a foregone conclusion. Like it made a lick of sense. Which it didn't. She was restless. He knew it; he saw it in the way she only seemed to relax while singing and making music. And every time after they had sex a voice in his head said._

_But he wouldn't think about that. He couldn't. Not when he knew what he had to do. For her. Always for her._

_"I say it because it's true. There ain't nothing here for you girl."_

_Daryl's not looking at her. He won't. He doesn't want to take it back. And he knows he will if he looks at her and sees the hurt._

_"Don't you dare do this Daryl Dixon. Don't you push me away because you think it's what good for me."_

_He can tell she's trying not to cry. It's in her voice. They've had this argument before. If there was one thing Daryl was good it, it was pushing away people._

_"We both know this ain't goin' nowhere. It's just been a bit o' fun. A little rebellion from the preacher's daughter. Slummin' it with the redneck trash to piss off daddy."_

_"Screw you! That ain't what this is and you know it. It's my choice. MY choice. Not yours. And my choice is stay here with you. Because I love you damn it. And I know you love me too."_

_The sad part is, is that her fire is a part of why Daryl does love her. Because he does. Loves her with all his damn heart. Whatever the hell that is worth. He feels safe with her which is such a sappy damn thing to say. But it's true. He ain't ever felt safe in his life until this little spitfire._

_It's because he loves her that he says these next words. He says them with a straight face and looks right at her._

_"Well I don't love you. And I'm done pretending this is worth somethin'."_

_And that was it. She was gone a week later._

Sometimes Daryl hated himself for what he'd done. Other times he was glad he did it. What did he expect would happen if she stayed. Marry him. Move into his trailer. Pop out a kid or two and make nothing of her life. Nah. She was meant for so much more. More than this rundown town. He was glad she left so quickly though. He knew that if she showed up and tried to talk to him he'd cave. He was a selfish fucker and she made him happier than he'd ever been in his life. It wasn't easy giving that up.

At that moment Daryl changed his mind. He had enough beers to keep his buzz going and he couldn't stand to sit on that barstool for one more night. So instead of Scotty's he found himself slipping under the bleachers of the high school.

That's where she found him. Sitting on the ground taking swigs from a can. At first he thought he drank too much and he was hallucinating. But no, when he reached out a hand to cup her cheek she was solid and real. They both had tears in their eyes when he breathed her name for the first time since she left months ago.

"Beth"


End file.
